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Clay-Chalkville DL Jalen Harvey flips his commitment a second time to Syracuse

Jalen Harvey Syracuse flip.jpg

Clay-Chalkville senior defensive tackle Jalen Harvey committed to Syracuse over the weekend. He had been previously committed to both South Alabama and Western Kentucky this month. Harvey posed in a Syracuse jersey with his father Carl and mother Ardra on his official visit over the weekend. (Photo courtesy of Jalen Harvey).

He'd also had an offer from Boise State and interest from Arkansas State last month.

But then an offer from Syracuse came about eight days
ago. He and his family made the 17-hour trip by car to check out that
program. He took in the Duke-Syracuse basketball game that drew national
attention. He went with other recruits to a nearby Dave and Buster's
food and entertainment chain.

Clay Chalkville senior Jalen Harvey warms up prior to the Oxford game this season on Friday, Sept. 6, 2013. (Mark Almond/malmond@al.com)MARK ALMOND

And he also made another new commitment to Syracuse. Is his middle name "Flip" or something?

Its
easy to make a snap judgement about young people these days and the
meaning of the word "commitment" but before you do that, hear him out.

Harvey
likens his plight to a real world example most 17-year-old have a hard
time relating to. What if you got a job from Sony? You accept that job,
but then what if another job offer from Microsoft came along? What if
you were fortunate to then land another offer from NASA?

That's how he sees it.

"Its been really tough," Harvey said. "I am just 17 years old and I don't really know what I really want. I couldn't make up my mind I guess. You can't expect me to know everything."

He didn't have the Western Kentucky offer until this month. He didn't have the Syracuse offer to consider until last weekend.

"These offers came late," Harvey said, "If they never came, then I'd still be with one team in all of this. I didn't even get any interest from Syracuse until about a week or two ago. They just offered last Sunday."

He had an adult's view of looking at it. He compared a degree from Western Kentucky to Syracuse. He thought about what would serve him better five and 10 years from now.

"I want to get into Sports Management in college," Harvey said. "The type of degree you get from Syracuse is tops in the nation. You are pretty much set with that degree going forward and you can get more of the jobs of your choice. You can get more with a Syracuse degree than a Western Kentucky degree. This wasn't a football decision, but a decision based on real life and an education after football is over with."

"I am done with Syracuse now," Harvey said. "This is for real. I am going to sign with Syracuse on Wednesday. I'm not answering any more phone calls. If a get a call from anywhere I don't know that doesn't have a 315 in the area code then I am not going to pick up the phone to talk to anybody until Wednesday."

Overtime: 120 seconds with Jalen HarveyWe are only supposed to go 60 seconds with our Wednesday Q&As but we could not deprive the internet of an additional minute discussing cupcakes, dolphins, and Miley Cyrus and her creative influence on defensive tackles across Alabama.

He even shared another example that further validated his point.

"You get a bigger name and a bigger offer you are going to take it," Harvey said. "If a coach got a bigger job offer then he'd go to the bigger job at a better school with a new offer. So why can't a player go to a bigger school when another one comes along before he has signed?"

Harvey said Syracuse has told him he'd have a chance at early playing time.

"He's a powerful kid and a good player," Clay-Chalkville coach Jerry Hood said. "I think he has room to become even stronger and he's going
to be a good one. He plays with great leverage and can hold the area.
He has a surprising good first few steps to make plays within the line
of scrimmage.